A Narrative Inquiry On The Entrepreneurial Experiences Of Female Military Spouses With Advanced Degrees

<p>The purpose of this study was to explore the entrepreneurial experiences of female military spouses with advanced degrees. This study documented how these entrepreneurial experiences may have helped the military spouse population overcome underemployment while their servicemember spouse was still on active duty. Through purposeful sampling, five female military spouse entrepreneurs with advanced degrees were selected to participate in the study. Virtual interviews were conducted to provide a detailed account of their entrepreneurial experiences including how and why they got started in entrepreneurship, challenges and opportunities in entrepreneurship, funding programs and educational services supporting every stage of their entrepreneurship, and informal or formal leadership activities they undertake or have undertaken in their communities. Data analysis for this narrative inquiry included restorying the interview data and coding. Each narrative was sent to each participant for member-checking to ensure that the personal stories by the participants were accurately presented. The restoried narratives were examined in- depth to yield coded data. The coded data was analyzed for emergent patterns and relationships. The four themes developed through the data analysis were: <em>Achieving Flexibility in Entrepreneurship</em>, <em>Finances: A Challenge and Opportunity in Entrepreneurship</em>, <em>Use of Resources in Entrepreneurship</em>, and <em>Growth in Competencies from Entrepreneurship</em>. The findings suggest that female military spouse entrepreneurs with advanced degrees may have more needs in ameliorating employment challenges and professional viability stemming directly from their military lifestyle.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education

Year dc:date.available

2022

Author dc:creator

• Mupas-Obedoza, Rosette

Contributors dc:contributor

• Andrea Disque
• Jennifer Galipeau
• Donna Ehrlich

• Higher Education

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dune.une.edu/theses/435

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dune.une.edu:theses-1434